Today is Black Friday, which the media would have you believe is the biggest shopping day of the year, even though it’s not. (Statistics show the busiest is actually the last Saturday before Christmas, mainly due to people like me who wait until the last minute after the last minute.)
Black Friday always sounds so negative, even though it’s named for a financial positive. Black Friday used to be about people lining up at 5 o’clock in the morning to rush through the stores at 5 o’clock just save $50 on a 72-inch TV. Thanks to the internet, not so much anymore.
When I hear “Black Friday,” my first thought is that night in November 1986, when I was working at the original Journal. It was the first week of the playoffs that year, filled with local teams with high hopes. Then this happened:
Neville 49, Bossier 0
Ruston 42, Airline 0
Barbe 42, Woodlawn 0
Jonesboro-Hodge 42, Northwood 0
The headline the next day was “The night the (scoreboard) lights went out for Shreveport-Bossier.”
That’s a Black Friday.
There was a local team that won (Captain Shreve), but only because it was against another local team (Southwood).
November 14, 1986, may have been the single worst night in local football playoff history. Can you imagine one worse than that?
With only three Caddo-Bossier teams remaining in the playoffs this year, let’s hope it’s not another Black Friday for Airline, Calvary and Byrd. Granted, you could throw North Desoto in there to make the numbers look a little better – Haynesville if you really want to stretch it — but there are 64 teams left playing football in Louisiana and this area has an embarrassingly small number of participants.
Baton Rouge, a similar-sized city, has Central, Episcopal, Dunham, Southern Lab, Madison Prep and Catholic still playing. If University Lab hadn’t been removed from the playoff bracket (the Cubs were a No. 2 seed), odds are that would be a seventh team. And that’s without stretching the borders to pick up a few more. A year ago, the Baton Rouge-area had 12 teams in the quarterfinal round.
For that matter, Lafayette has the same number of playoff teams as Shreveport-Bossier this year and you could double that by taking in the metro area.
The problem is not necessarily that Shreveport doesn’t produce state champions – Calvary has won three and Evangel has one in the last 10 years – but it’s more about the depth of teams at this point in the playoffs.
It’s been since the Richard Nixon administration since a Shreveport-Bossier public school to won a state championship (Captain Shreve, 1973). And only a scarce few have even made it being a state runner-up.
More history lessons: In 1967, local teams played in a state final and two state semifinal games on the same weekend. Pre-Superdome Classic, all three games were played in Shreveport-Bossier.
To go from history to reality, there is this daunting task – you still have to win two more games to get the ring.
Rather than bemoan the lack of playoff depth, the attention should be on those who are still playing. Winning playoff games is hard to do and it is quite an accomplishment to get this far.
Byrd has quite a challenge in traveling to Alexandria Senior High, but the Jackets have already knocked off a higher seed. Airline and Calvary should have raucous atmospheres for the home games tonight.
Still, it would just be nice if these three had a little more local company.
Contact JJ at johnjamesmarshall@yahoo.com